Yes subby, a secret unmanned orbiter that few people know exists, few people know what it does, and that carries out very secret missions primarily for the Air Force with no public oversight is cool tag, just like the Space Shuttle.

Maybe if this were 1970 when military demands for this vehicle first farked over NASA in the shape of the Space Shuttle we got.

RoyBatty:Yes subby, a secret unmanned orbiter that few people know exists, few people know what it does, and that carries out very secret missions primarily for the Air Force with no public oversight is cool tag, just like the Space Shuttle.

With a Democrat President, I'm surprised Fox News didn't claim that it'll be used to spy on God-fearing Americans.

FTA: "The Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office has a mission of expediting the development and fielding of select Department of Defense combat support and weapon systems by leveraging defense-wide technology development efforts and existing operational capabilities."

The AF is going to continue their program which, if they are smart, would still include scientific exploration. That plus the private companies taking over people travel should cover what NASA was doing.

Still dont see a purpose for their existance past a couple of years from now (decades for some projects)....and thats just to wrap up what they started.

RoyBatty:Yes subby, a secret unmanned orbiter that few people know exists, few people know what it does, and that carries out very secret missions primarily for the Air Force with no public oversight is cool tag, just like the Space Shuttle.

Maybe if this were 1970 when military demands for this vehicle first farked over NASA in the shape of the Space Shuttle we got.

It's unpiloted, but not unmanned. Everyone knows the true purpose is to deliver our tribute of orphans to the aliens known as "456", so they can be smoked. That was the agreement.

Hydrazine. Space craft use hydrazine in their orbital maneuvering engines, APUs, and other uses, and it's really really toxic. The F-16 uses it in the Emergency Power Unit that they have in case they lose their engine. If it fires off, the plane has to be parked 100 yards from any other aircraft, and has to sit for four hours before anyone can go near it (after the aircraft is secured). To service the EPU (4-5 hours after the hydrazine has dissipated), you have to wear gloves that go to the shoulder, a face shield, and a full body leather smock, and only two people are allowed to go near the aircraft to service it.

Hydrazine is also used as a low-power monopropellant for the maneuvering thrusters of spacecraft, and the Space Shuttle's auxiliary power units (APUs). In addition, monopropellant hydrazine-fueled rocket engines are often used in terminal descent of spacecraft. Such engines were used on the Viking program landers in the 1970s as well as the Phoenix lander and Curiosity rover which landed on Mars in May 2008 and August 2012, respectively.

In all hydrazine monopropellant engines, the hydrazine is passed by a catalyst such as iridium metal supported by high-surface-area alumina (aluminium oxide) or carbon nanofibers,[26] or more recently molybdenum nitride on alumina,[27] which causes it to decompose into ammonia, nitrogen gas, and hydrogen gas according to the following reactions:

Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable, especially in the anhydrous form. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

Symptoms of acute (short-term) exposure to high levels of hydrazine may include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, headache, nausea, pulmonary edema, seizures, coma in humans. Acute exposure can also damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. The liquid is corrosive and may produce dermatitis from skin contact in humans and animals. Effects to the lungs, liver, spleen, and thyroid have been reported in animals chronically exposed to hydrazine via inhalation. Increased incidences of lung, nasal cavity, and liver tumors have been observed in rodents exposed to hydrazine.[33]

Limit tests for hydrazine in pharmaceuticals suggest that it should be in the low ppm range.[34] Hydrazine may also cause steatosis.[35] At least one human is known to have died, after 6 months of sublethal exposure to hydrazine hydrate.[36]

On February 21, 2008, the United States government destroyed the disabled spy satellite USA 193 with a sea-launched missile, reportedly due to the potential danger of a hydrazine release if it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere intact.[37]

Individuals may be exposed to hydrazine in the workplace or to small amounts in tobacco smoke. Symptoms of acute (short-term) exposure to high levels of hydrazine may include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, headache, nausea, pulmonary edema, seizures, and coma in humans. Acute exposure can also damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system in humans. The liquid is corrosive and may produce dermatitis from skin contact in humans and animals. Effects to the lungs, liver, spleen, and thyroid have been reported in animals chronically (long-term) exposed to hydrazine via inhalation. Increased incidences of lung, nasal cavity, and liver tumors have been observed in rodents exposed to hydrazine. EPA has classified hydrazine as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.

I too am confused at why Subby seems to think that NASA's budget for the space program resembles the US Military budget in any way short of both being expressed in the US Dollar denomination.

And sure, when we start waging war in space, I won't have to lament the loss of our space program. For- thanks to the sacrosanct nature of our military spending budget- it truly will be good times for NASA.

ChipNASA:Just saying...I saw this at a briefing here at work and since I found it on the internets, I'm assuming it's public information ..

[www.suasnews.com image 600x406] Manned X-37 configurations.

Those are future possible configurations of a scaled up craft. The X-37B is on 29 ft long, nine feet high, with a 14 wing span and a 11K lb total weight. It's about the size of a small two-man trainer aircraft. I can't see fitting six people into that.

astroturd:The AF is going to continue their program which, if they are smart, would still include scientific exploration. That plus the private companies taking over people travel should cover what NASA was doing.

Still dont see a purpose for their existance past a couple of years from now (decades for some projects)....and thats just to wrap up what they started.

Hmm, I'd head down there and watch the launch, but there's only a 30% chance of favourable weather. A front is moving through here in Gainesville right now. Maybe I'll head down there tomorrow anyway, and just check out the IMAX movie or something if it doesn't launch, or go on a tour.

So what is the upside then? Why use this stuff at all if all it's going to do is kill everyone around it and turn your children into seven eyed mutants? What is the benefit that makes people go "yeah, it's the most deadly thing we've ever invented, but..."

JackieRabbit:Leave it to Fox to try to sensationalize this. There's nothing really secretive about it. The X-37 program has been around for 13 years now somewhat public launch from Edwards AFB in 2010.

Oznog: It's unpiloted, but not unmanned.

It is entirely unmanned. It's not big enough to hold a human -- at least not the B variant. Boeing is working on the C variant now. Big secret, hun?